What's left to accomplish under the Liberal-NDP pact keeping PM Trudeau in power?

Heading into what could be a make-or-break year for the federal Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are meeting with their teams this week to plot out their priorities for 2024. Looming over these planning sessions is their two-party pact and the outstanding promises within it.

Heading into what could be a make-or-break year for the federal Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are meeting with their teams this week to plot out their priorities for the 2024 parliamentary sitting.

Looming over these planning sessions is the deal injecting stability into the minority government dynamics on the Hill — by seeing the New Democrats vow to back the Liberals on confidence matters in exchange for progressive policy action — and the outstanding promises within it.

Inked in 2022, the first two years have seen progress on some central planks of the two-party pact, from initiating a national dental care program and paid sick leave, to tabling "anti-scab" and "just transition" legislation. The government has also made good on some of its housing, tax fairness, child care and reconciliation commitments itemized in the deal.

However, with the pharmacare legislation delayed, and other pledges unpursued, work remains to see the entirety of the agreement aimed at "delivering for Canadians" fulfilled before its June 2025 expiry.

Likely not fortuitously, several of the agreed-upon items within the deal speak in broad, general terms about action on policy areas such as improving the health-care system and advancing carbon emission reductions, so that both sides could agree that progress is being made without having to point to a specific action. 

That said, here are the main commitments within the deal where work is outstanding:

Arguably the biggest outstanding commitment of the deal was supposed to come to fruition last year, but still hasn't: a national pharmacare framework.